Mexico slapped with embarrassing corruption score

El Daily PostThe OECD is a global club of industrial democracies organized for cooperation and development. Mexico is its most corrupt member, ranking 34th out of 34.

The G-20 is a forum for advanced economies. Mexico is the third most-corrupt nation in that group, outranking only Russia and Argentina.

NAFTA is a trinational free trade agreement. One of its three signatories — Mexico —ranks 95th among 167 nations on the corruption scale (lowest the cleanest). That's 86 and 79 places worse than NAFTA partners Canada (ninth) and the United States (16th).

But so does most of the world. Two-thirds of the countries graded by Transparency International (TI) in its 2015 Corruption Perceptions Index released this week came in under 50.

That word "perception" is key here. The rankings are based more on opinions than data, the opinions coming from "experts," according to the TI description of its methodology.

But perceptions count for something, and few would deny that Mexico's reputation for corruption is based on reality, and is impeding progress.

"Public sector corruption isn't simply about taxpayer money going missing," the TI report reads. "Broken institutions and corrupt officials fuel inequality and exploitation, keeping wealth in the hands of an elite few and trapping many more in poverty."

Mexico's President Enrique Pena Nieto during a ceremony to sign into law a new-anti corruption legislation, at the National Palace in Mexico City, May 4, 2015. REUTERS/Henry Romero

In fact, the report singles out Mexico, along with Venezuela andArgentina, as an example of a resource-rich nation held back by corruption: "Longstanding corruption (in those three countries) has led to a desperate lack of investment in security, education and health. Until these weaknesses are addressed, corruption will continue to be the norm and citizens' quality of life will not improve."

TI sees correlations between corruption scores and structural characteristics. Top performers generally have solid press freedom, public access to budget information, high levels of integrity among people in power; and independent.

The more corrupt countries have the opposite.

Corruption, big-time

El Daily PostThe corruption experience for most Mexicans is at the everyday level — mordidas demanded by cops, for example — but the Index seems to give extra weight to major public corruption scandals.

Brazil, for example, was the biggest decliner among the 168 nations, with its score falling by five points and its ranking by seven positions. ThePetrobras mega-scandal was specifically cited as the reason, not any overall rise in common corruption.

(Brazil is still 19 places ahead of Mexico, however, despite its dropping score.)

For similar reasons, presumably, the TI report runs down a laundry list of high-profile corruption scandals to explain Mexico's low (but relatively steady) ranking: "Casa Blanca",Oceanografía, OHL, among others, and the accumulatingaccusations against former governors in such states as Aguascalientes, Coahuila, Guerrero, Nuevo León, Sonora and Tabasco.

Mexico can take some solace in how much better it scores on the corruption scale than the worst of the lot. Its grade of 35 may be a far cry from the 91 of Denmark (the cleanest country in the world, according to the TI Index), but it's considerably more respectable than the lowest scorers — No. Korea and Somalia at 8.

And , for what it's worth, Mexico (according to the TI Index) hasn't been getting more corrupt, at least not in the last year. It's held the same position — 95 out of 168 — two years running.

That's in contrast to those on a downward trend. Besides Brazil, the decliners over the past four years include Libya, Australia, Spain and Turkey.

Notable improvers include Greece, Senegal and the United Kingdom.

People demonstrate demanding Guatemalan President Otto Perez's resignation over a corruption scandal, in Guatemala City on August 27, 2015. The Guatemalan comptroller's office called Thursday for President Otto Perez to resign over a swirling corruption scandal, the latest blow to the embattled and increasingly isolated leader. ORLANDO SIERRA/AFP/Getty Images While concluding that corruption is rife worldwide, Transparency International did find a bright spot. And they found it right next door to Mexico.

"In places like Guatemala, Sri Lanka and Ghana, citizen activists in groups and on their own worked hard to drive out the corrupt, sending a strong message that should encourage others to take decisive action in 2016," said TI chair José Ugaz.

The reference was to the conviction and jailing of Guatemala's outgoing president in 2014 on corruption charges, as a result of citizen pressure and United Nations assistance.

"Corruption can be beaten if we work together," Ugaz said. "To stamp out the abuse of power, bribery and shed light on secret deals, citizens must together tell their governments they have had enough."